Affection Deflection
by Balkoth
Summary: Future based oneshot. Beast Boy has finally realized who he wants to spend the rest of his life with. She isn't proving very responsive though. Desperate, the changeling seeks out somebody in the know who can help him.


Hmm, this is the shortest thing I've ever written. Oh well, hopefully, the quality will make up for the lenght. This is a little oneshot that has been floating around in my head for a while. It may be up to par with my other work, it may be really bad. You'll have to tell me 'cause this is my first try at this kind of story. I hope you enjoy and please, review.

**Disclaimer:** Balkoth does not own Teen Titans. Balkoth owns Affection Deflection but is nice enough to share.

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Affection Deflection

The years had been kinder to Beastboy than Starfire's stint to the future had indicated. While it was true that the green elf was beginning to resemble a well-fed roly-poly he had yet to loose his hair.

The room was a light shade of pink, so light that you had to look to figure out that you were, in fact, in a pink room. There was a plush chair positioned in the center of the space. The floral curtains over the window were thrown wide open and the window itself cracked slightly so that the sound of waves cresting and water lapping against the sand could drift up for all to hear.

Beastboy was lying on the red cushions while starring at the ceiling. He felt like one of the troubled characters in his favorite movies who would stare at the sky while crying their eyes out or telling a complete stranger their deepest darkest secrets. Beastboy felt like he was talking to a shrink but, in some ways, he was.

"How have you been?" Beastboy asked a figure sitting across from him. That was his helper, the person that might be able to give him an idea of how to finally get his dream girl to realize that they were perfect for each other.

Beastboy didn't get a verbal response but the straight-back chair creaked as weight shifted on it.

"Personally, I've run out of ideas here." Beastboy continued speaking, gesturing with his hands at the ceiling and to the walls to emphasize that he had tried every idea that made sense and several that had been ludicrous.

Again there was no response aside from a shift in weight. Out of the corner of his eye, Beastboy thought it might have been a shrug but he wasn't paying that much attention and he didn't really care.

"Everything I've tried has failed. I think I could just go up and confess my undying love for her and still get no reaction. Well, not a positive one anyway." Beastboy huffed as his aggravation got the best of him.

"It's just crazy," Beastboy started again after taking a few cleansing breaths, "how I'm just there," Beastboy thrust his supinated hand into the air and waved it around to make his point, "to her. Oh, she'll talk to Cyborg like they've known each other since birth and Robin was the first person she was ever half-decent to. What about me? Well, I'm the guy that seems to vanish in the shadows even when I go out of my way to get her attention!"

A steady noise picked up as Beastboy's last hope finally started using the clipboard.

"My jokes and pranks make her smile every now and then but she'll laugh openly when they backfire. When I try to be nice and share something with her she only sees it as a friendly gesture. Only friendly. She's a great friend but I really _really_ want us to be more."

Beastboy's impassioned rant came to an end when he finally realized that he still needed to breathe. "What should I do?"

Beastboy's shrink stopped working on the clipboard as his tongue darted out of his mouth and moistened his lips, as if he were going to speak but, with a shake of his head, he changed his mind.

"Come on, man, throw me a bone here." Beastboy's voice went up an octave in his desperation. Ever since he realized what his feelings for her were, every day that he had to deny his heart's desire, Beastboy felt like there was a hole in him that was gradually widening and crumbling into the abyss of depression.

"You know her really well," Beastboy sat up from the folds of the sofa and addressed his friend directly; "what would you do if you wanted to get her attention?" Eyes rolled up and to the left as Beastboy's helper thought about it. He started chewing on his bottom lip as he mulled over how to help Beastboy. He owed Beastboy after all: they were more like family than friends.

Again, another half shrug.

Beastboy growled deep in his throat as he stopped sitting up. The couch caught him easily and Beastboy's head banged against the metal frame that jutted just past the cushion. "Ow! Everything's just falling apart." Beastboy had meant both physically and mentally.

The changeling was having a very hard time dealing with his unresolved love life. Raven restrained her emotions by choice and after years of practice. Beastboy was restraining one of the most powerful emotions in existence with no preamble and not out of choice, but out of fear of rejection.

"She treats Robin like they have some special bond. I've tried everything to get the same bond but it never works. It just feels like I'm destined to be the guy she lived with but never liked." Beastboy turned glazed eyes to the other occupied piece of furniture in the room. "Do you have any clue how much that hurts?"

There was no response but the eye contact communicated everything.

"You've even spent more intimate time with her than me. You're not even interested and you've slept with her! How fair is that?" No response but thin lips turned up a little in a smile. Beastboy was always funny when he was like this but he seemed so desperate.

"You've slept in her bed, seen her undress, and done some traditional Tamaranian custom thingy where you both did everything together for a full week.

Silkie finally got bored of listening to Beastboy and the genetically modified larva resumed chewing the clipboard.

Beastboy sighed. There went his last hope and one of his more crazy ideas. "Thanks, Silkie, you've been helpful." Beastboy lifted himself from the coach and trudged to the door. He loved Starfire more than words could say. She could never be his though – she only had eyes for Robin.

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Just a quick couple of questions that you might consider answering in the review that I humbly implore you to leave: first, did the fact that Beastboy was talking to Silkie remain unclear until the end and was it surprising? Second, how many of you thought that Beastboy was talking about Raven until reading the last four paragraphs? Thank you for reading this pointless little story. Now, take a minute or two to leave a review.  



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